


Best-Case Scenario

by Skye_Maxwell



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Chocolate, Confessions, Cute, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon, Romance, Valentine's Day, let ryuji say fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 07:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17741348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Maxwell/pseuds/Skye_Maxwell
Summary: Last year on Valentine’s Day, Ryuji and Akira sat in Leblanc lamenting over their lack of dates. This year, Ryuji has decided to take matters into his own hands.





	Best-Case Scenario

Like clockwork, as soon as Akira exited the front door of his school to start the walk home, his phone started vibrating in his hand. 

“Hey,” he answered, carefully making his way down the school’s front steps, which were covered with a soft layer of snow that had fallen earlier that day. 

“Hey!” Ryuji greeted, enthusiastic as always.

“How was school today?”

“I dunno. Wasn’t there,” Ryuji said flippantly.

Akira stopped walking, ignoring the other students who were then forced to walk around him. 

“What do you mean you weren’t there?” Akira asked, shoving his free hand in his jacket pocket to shield it from the cold. 

“I took the day off.”

“Ryuji…” Akira admonished softly. “I thought you stopped skipping school.” 

Ryuji’s school attendance had improved vastly during their time as Phantom Thieves, as it was better to play by the rules during the day and not draw attention to himself. However, once his third year started, Ryuji’s attendance began to suffer again, worse than before. 

It had taken some effort on Akira’s part to get Ryuji to admit that one of his biggest reasons for skipping school was that he missed Akira. Then Akira proceeded, as any good friend would, to tease Ryuji mercilessly about it. That, coupled with some actual genuine encouragement, finally got Ryuji attending school regularly again. 

“Gimme a break, man! You don’t gotta sound so disappointed. It’s the first day I’ve missed in months. And who the hell wants to be in school on Valentine’s Day?”

Akira had a moment of realization and sighed loudly so Ryuji would hear it. 

“Is this because no one at school gave you chocolates last year?”

“No, that ain’t why! And you didn’t get any chocolates either!”

“Only one. From you,” Akira pointed out, walking slowly forward in a meandering path since he was distracted by their conversation.

“Yeah, I got that chocolate from the shopkeeper lady at the convenience store. She must’ve thought I looked real pathetic.”

Akira nodded in the affirmative, even though Ryuji couldn’t see it. “You looked _super_ pathetic.”

“Dude!”

Akira just chuckled, not about to retract the statement since it was true. 

Ryuji suddenly asked, “Hey… you got any big plans tonight?” 

The change in Ryuji’s tone was distinct, but Akira didn’t know the reason for it. 

“You know I don’t. Otherwise I would have told you when we talked yesterday.”

“Hey, a lot can happen in a day! Especially with you, man. It _is_ Valentine’s Day. I bet you got a ton of chocolate.”

Akira rolled his eyes, kicking at a patch of snow with the toe of his shoe. He didn’t want to dampen Ryuji’s mood by telling him that he hadn’t received any chocolate that day, and he hadn’t expected to. The rumors about him here were as bad as they were at Shujin, if not worse. Even the handful of people he had been somewhat friendly with before his year away in Tokyo no longer spoke to him. 

Akira knew he should have told Ryuji about his situation a long time ago, but he didn’t have the heart to worry him like that. Ryuji was helping him with all that anyway, even if he wasn’t aware of it. Knowing that he would get to talk to Ryuji after school always gave Akira something to look forward to, and once he heard Ryuji’s voice coming through his phone, all those little problems of the day swiftly faded away. 

Akira asked, “Okay, then what about you?” 

“What _about_ me?”

“Did you make any big plans for tonight between yesterday afternoon and now?”

Ryuji sniffled on the other end of the line, and Akira immediately had to wonder if he was outside, and if so, if he was dressed warmly enough. Probably not. 

“I did, actually.”

“Oh…” Akira said, slowing down and staring at the snow as it crunched beneath his feet. “Who is it?”

“Someone I’ve had my eye on for a while now.”

Akira frowned. Ryuji was interested in someone? And he’d been interested in them for a while? And he hadn’t told Akira? Ryuji told Akira everything, or so he had thought. 

Maybe this was karma for not being completely honest with Ryuji…

Ryuji interrupted Akira’s thoughts with, “You look kinda upset there, Akira.”

_Look?_

Akira’s head snapped up, and then he felt like he had just been punched in the gut and all the air had been forced from his lungs.

There he was, standing just beyond the school gate and waving. 

“Ryuji,” Akira said dazedly. 

“Well, hurry up and get over here, man,” Ryuji said, probably trying to play it cool but smiling a bit too widely to pull it off. 

Akira slowly lowered his phone from his ear and started making his way toward the gate, gradually walking faster and faster until he was wrapped in one of Ryuji’s infamously too-tight reunion embraces. 

“You’re here,” he said, hugging Ryuji back. 

“Surprise,” Ryuji said happily, pulling away and ruffling Akira’s hair. “Man, it was so hard to keep it a secret. But it was totally worth it for that cute face you made when you saw me.”

“Dude,” Akira said, stuffing his phone in his pocket and then pushing his glasses up. “That’s like the fifth time you’ve called me cute.”

“Dude! Why are you countin’?!”

“Why do you keep saying it?” Akira challenged.

“Why do you keep bein’ cute?!” Ryuji exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. 

The two of them stared at each other in a moment of heavy silence until Ryuji laughed loudly, running an unsteady hand back through his hair. 

“Let me start over, man. You probably wanna know why I’m here, right?”

Akira nodded, looking over Ryuji. His ears and the tip of his nose were pink. The jacket he was wearing was definitely not warm enough for the weather, and it wasn’t even zipped up. The maroon bomber did look good on him though, which made Akira proud since he and Ann were the ones who had picked the jacket out (Ann had dragged Ryuji to a clothing store in an attempt to ‘fix’ his fashion sense and had consulted Akira via video call). And the grey jeans he was wearing fit him just right…

“Hey, it’s gonna be real hard to say what I came here to say if you keep checking me out like that.”

Caught red-handed, Akira’s gaze flicked back up to meet Ryuji’s. “What’d you come here to say?”

Ryuji opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Then he said under his breath, “Shit, what _did_ I come here to say?”

Akira laughed quietly, making short little puffs of cold air appear in the space between him and Ryuji. 

Ryuji seemed to be momentarily entranced, watching the cooled air dissolve before him. Then he was left staring at Akira, and once their gazes met again, he looked completely lost. 

“Damn it… It was a lot easier to be confident when I couldn’t see your face.”

Akira smiled, quickly settling into that warm, familiar state of being with his best friend in person. 

He asked teasingly, “My cute face?” 

“Yeah your damn cute face!” Ryuji exclaimed, surprising Akira. “Shit, sorry.”

“Sixth time,” Akira said under his breath, but then he nodded understandingly and took a few steps away from Ryuji, turning his back to him. “Is this better?”

“A little.”

“Okay, go ahead,” Akira encouraged.

“Right. So, uh, I’ve really missed havin’ you around, and even though we talk every day, it’s not the same, y’know? And like, this time last year I was upset the only person I had to spend Valentine’s Day with was you, but like, this year, the only person I wanna… Shit, I can’t be a coward! I gotta look at you!” Ryuji asserted, stomping around Akira to stand in front of him. 

However, as soon as his gaze fell on Akira's amused little smile, he seemed to lose his words again. 

“Fuck.”

Akira pointed to the schoolbag hanging from Ryuji’s shoulder, which was halfway open with a small rectangular package sticking out of it. It was wrapped sloppily in red paper and tied with a wrinkled black ribbon. 

“What’s that?” 

“Oh yeah! This is for you,” Ryuji said, taking the package out of his bag and handing it over to Akira.

Akira smelled the chocolate before he saw it, and he gently slid the ribbon off and ripped the paper open. 

“And, uh…” Ryuji added, “It’s a confession this time.”

Once Akira had visual confirmation that it was indeed chocolate, he immediately said, “I accept.”

His voice unnaturally quiet, Ryuji asked, “You do?”

Akira smiled widely and nodded, opening the box and popping a small square chocolate in his mouth. 

“Mm, dark chocolate.”

“You do… Holy shit, that’s awesome!” Ryuji proclaimed, back to his normal volume as Akira unzipped his school bag and slid the chocolate box in. “I was so freakin’ nervous you were gonna shoot me down! Then I woulda had to go buy a ticket home, and that woulda been a pretty damn depressin’ ride, and…” 

As Ryuji went on and on, Akira pressed the chocolate against the roof of his mouth with his tongue, letting it slowly melt. Meanwhile, he debated internally on whether or not it was too soon to kiss his best friend. On the one hand, Ryuji had _just_ confessed, but on the other hand, Akira had been waiting for what felt like forever…

“Akira?”

“Fuck it,” Akira muttered, taking one large step toward Ryuji and putting his hands on his waist. 

He couldn’t help but smile when Ryuji, wide-eyed and curious, automatically stood up straighter, bringing their mouths into better alignment. 

For a moment, the two of them just watched each other, a silent intensity growing between them. Then, slowly, their faces drifted together. 

Akira lightly pushed his lips against Ryuji’s, and then he closed his eyes, minutely dragging his lips upward to fit their mouths together. 

Their lips separated and came back together once, twice, too many times to count, each magnetic little kiss lingering longer than the last. 

Feeling like this was getting a bit too intimate to be doing in public, Akira fought down his own desire and reluctantly pulled away. However, his heart immediately felt lighter when he saw the wide-open emotions in Ryuji’s eyes—amazement and affection and exhilaration. It was absolutely captivating. 

Ryuji responded by wrapping his arms around Akira and pulling him into an even more bone-crushing hug than before. Then, to Akira’s surprise, Ryuji actually giggled near his ear and breathed, “Best-case scenario.”

“What?”

“Best-case scenario!” Ryuji exclaimed, laughing joyfully now as he lifted Akira off his feet. 

Once Ryuji set him back on the ground, Akira stumbled backwards a bit, a searing heat rushing into his cheeks. 

Straightening out his glasses with both hands, partially to hide his face, Akira asked, “What do you mean?”

“When I was freaking out about doing this, Ann told me to think of what the best-case scenario would be, and this was it, man! You accepted my chocolates, and _you_ kissed _me_ , and I… I gotta tell Ann! Hell, I gotta tell everybody!”

“Later,” Akira said, sliding his arm around Ryuji’s shoulders in Ryuji-like fashion and urging him forward past the school gates. “We’ve gotta get you indoors. You hungry?”

“Hell yeah, I’m starvin’!” Ryuji said, wrapping his arm around Akira’s back.

“There’s a ramen shop on the way to my house. It’ll blow anything you’ve had in Tokyo out of the water.”

“For real?! What the hell are we waitin’ for, then?” Ryuji said, picking up their pace. 

“I’m glad I finally get to take you there. I think of you every time I walk past it.”

“Dude,” Ryuji said, dropping the word like a lead weight. “That’s _way_ too cute.”

“Seventh time.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Ryuji said, leaning in to kiss the still-flushed side of Akira’s cute face. “I think you’re fuckin’ cute, and you can fuckin’ deal with it.” 

“Eighth time,” Akira said breathily, abruptly veering off the path and maneuvering Ryuji behind a particularly wide tree. Then he used both hands to grab Ryuji’s open jacket and pull Ryuji to himself. 

And so, the short walk to the ramen shop took an unusually long time, and that night when Ryuji video-called Ann, who then conferenced in the rest of their friends, Ryuji was a sniffling, sneezing mess. 

Even so, Akira was pleased with the situation: he’d gotten to make out with Ryuji amidst the picturesque winter landscape of his hometown (finally, he’d made some new, positive memories here) while also getting to prove his point to Ryuji about why it was important to bundle up in the freezing cold. Plus, Ryuji was now on Akira’s bed, dressed in layers of Akira’s clothing and tightly holding an infinitely displeased Morgana for additional warmth (cute). 

They received their friends’ mostly heartfelt congratulations, with a few mocking comments aimed at Ryuji thrown in there courtesy of Futaba, Morgana, and Yusuke (though the offensive nature of Yusuke's words was most likely unintentional, which arguably made them more offensive). 

Once everyone but Ann had left the call, she and Ryuji boisterously congratulated each other on scoring a hot stud (they could be such bros sometimes) while Morgana desperately vied for Ann’s attention, skulking off when he clearly wasn’t going to get it. 

After Akira thanked Ann for helping Ryuji (“No problem, Joker!”), they ended the call, and Akira pressed close to Ryuji, claiming it was solely to make up for the heat he’d lost when Morgana left. 

They both knew that was bullshit, and neither of them cared. 

They were warm and supported and _together._

It really was the best-case scenario.

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently when I write Akiryu, I can't help but use the word "cute" to nauseating extremes. Oh well. 
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day! Though I vastly prefer the day after, when the leftover chocolate goes on sale.


End file.
